Vietnamese Dipping Sauce (Nuoc Mam)

Garrett and I went to Vietnam for our honeymoon. We picked Vietnam almost entirely for the food. We both love the flavors of Vietnamese cuisine — they are complex and fresh. Some of my favorite ingredients are lime juice, fish sauce, and chiles and this sauce incorporates all three in the most addicting way. I learned a lot about the clean flavors of this sauce while in Vietnam, and this is a simple recipe to give your meals the sweet, sour, bright, umami goodness of Vietnamese food!

I make enough to last several meals — I store it in an airtight glass mason jar in the fridge and use it as a dipping sauce for spring rolls or lettuce cups, as a sauce for cold noodles, a dressing for raw veg salads or even Buddha bowls that need a little kick.

What you need:

1/3 Cup fish sauce (I use Red Boat)
3 Tablespoons cane sugar
4 garlic gloves, minced
1/3 Cup rice vinegar
1/4 Cup fresh squeezed lime juice
1 Tablespoon chile paste (I use Sambal OeIek)

Place all ingredients in a mason jar, screw on a lid and vigorously shake. It takes a little while to dissolve the sugar. You can also heat the vinegar on the stove and stir in the sugar first, if you want to quickly dissolve it. It will stay in the fridge for a least a week.